Product Description

Easter Island is a mysterious island in the South Pacific. Its inhabitants have long since vanished without a trace except for the giant Moai. These giant statues are so large and heavy that modern man has had a difficult time recreating them without modern tools. Tools the original inhabitants most certainly couldn't possess.

This game speculates that the statues were, in fact, beam weapons created by two very powerful wizards. These wizards used the statues in a giant game, with the island itself as the board. You are now one of those wizards...

Easter Island lets you place your statues and move them into position. Then, when everything is ready, call upon the power of the Sun to topple your opponent's statues and thus your opponent.

<b>Board Games with Scott</b> is a "video blog" about many different types of board games. In each episode, Scott Nicholson presents a different game, explains it, and briefly reviews it. It's a great way to discover new games as well as learn more about games you're curious about. Enjoy!<p><b>Note:</b> <i>Board Games with Scott links will <b>open in a new window</b> and are <b>not</b> hosted by Funagain Games, nor is Funagain Games responsible for their content.</i></p>

Contents:

Product Reviews

The real Easter Island, is best know for the giant stone
monoliths, known as Moai, that surround the island.. Easter
Island has long been the subject of curiosity and speculation.
How and why did its inhabitants carve and transport these
massive statues. "Easter Island", the game, provides it's own
interpretation of how and why it all came to be, in a battle to
destroy your opponent's statues.

THE STORY:

This game speculates that the statues were in fact beam
weapons, created by two powerful wizards and that these
wizards used the statues in a giant game, with the island itself
as the board.

THE GOAL:

To destroy your opponent's statues while protecting your own.

COMPONENTS:

1) Quad Folding Game Board, with a grid of 25 points at it's
center and 20 Sun Token circles that surround the entire grid.
Don't think it's an actual map of Easter Island but it certainly
serves the purpose.

14) Statues - 7 colored black and 7 colored grey. Note that
these are mini little replicas of the actual statues found on Easter
Island and are quite attractive and really add to the theme of the
game.

16) Sun Tokens - Each player gets 8 Sun Tokens in their color
and each has a picture of the sun on the other side. These are
small round cardboard pieces.

SET-UP:

Each player chooses a color and takes all the statues and tokens
of that color. Players then alternate placing a statue on one of
the intersecting points of the center grid, until each players have
four statues on the board.

THE RULES:

On the starting players very first turn, they choose 1 of five
possible actions. On all other turns, each player can then choose
any 2 of the same five actions, including repeating the same
action twice.

THE ACTIONS:

Place another statue on the board.

Place a Sun Token on any empty sun token spot that
surrounds the board. Once placed, this token may never be
moved.

Rotate 1 Statue in place, either 90 or 180 degrees.

Move 1 Statue in a straight line any number of intersections,
provided you don't jump over any other statues.

Direct a ray from one of your Sun Token by turning it over with
the Sun side up. Once used, this Sun Token may not be used
again.

There are only 2 restrictions of the use of the Sun Tokens.

A sun ray cannot be directed if it will involve contact with the
active player's statue put in play during the same turn.

A sun ray cannot be directed from a Sun Token that was put
into play during the same turn.

EFFECTS OF THE SUN RAY:

Like a pinball machine, sun rays once activated (by turning them
sun side up) shoot a an invisible ray of light in a straight line that
can bounce around the board. The statues themselves serve as
targets or bumpers, that send the light in different directions.
There are a total of four sides where a Statue can be hit . From
the front, (face side), back, or either one of the two sides of it's
face. Depending upon where the ray of light hits the statue, the
statue will either be destroyed (yours or your opponent's) or it
will send the light off in a different direction. Any statue hit in the
front or back is automatically destroyed and removed from the
game. When it's hit from either side, the ray of light is sent off
once again at a 90 degree angle.

Statues are also destroyed under the following 2 circumstances.

The Statue is the only one or the last one hit by the sun ray.

The same Statue reflects the same race twice, thus being hit
on both of it's sides.

END OF GAME:

The game ends when one player has only 1 Statue remaining on
the board. Even if the player has more Statues that can still be
brought into play, the same is still over. The player with 2 or
more Statues still on the board wins. It's noted in the rules that
in very rare cases, no more rays can be sent, in which case the
player with the most Statues on the board wins. If both players
have the same amount of Statues left, than the last player to
have placed a Statue on the board wins.

THOUGHTS ON THE GAME:

Make no mistake about it, this is a game that involves pure skill.
In spite of the Easter Island board and pretty pieces, this is an
abstract strategy game all the way. Will you enjoy it? That
depends. If you enjoy games that require looking ahead quite a
bit, or if your the type of player that enjoys the battle of
maneuvering of pieces, as in chess, then this will be what you've
been waiting for. It's not chess, but I think the comparison is
well taken. It's all definitely unique, interesting and fun.

When I first spotted Easter Island for sale at DragonCon, I
was intrigued, but not enough to immediately purchase the
game. The saleswoman's description was interesting, but
made the game seem too dry and perhaps a little dull, but
now I understand how difficult it can be to describe just how
intensely interesting this game is!

Before you begin playing the game, make sure you read the
rules all the way though; the rules aren't long and they're
clearly written, and just reading them through once will make
your first play-through of the game go much more smoothly
than it would otherwise.

Easter Island is an intellectual strategy game that takes the
essence of complex, long-running games like Chess and Go
and reduces it down to a game that is just as fun, but easier
and quicker to play. If you like games like Othello, Chess,
and Go, you will probably like Easter Island.

The look of the game is another great feature. The Moai
playing pieces are quirky and unique, like the game's
concept, and the playing board and solar tokens are of good
quality (and easily saved from water and soda spills).

Overall, I highly recommend this game for its unique style of
play and its unique look. However, if you are not fond of
strategy games like the ones I mentioned before, Easter
Island is probably not for you.

Other Resources for Easter Island:

Board Game Geek is an incredible compilation of information about board and card games with many descriptions, photographs, reviews, session reports, and other commentary.